book details

Book: Beyond the Ivory Tower by Jill Blake

Jill Blake

about this book: Writing fiction is a bit like dreaming: random impressions drawn from real life come together in new and often startling ways.

About a year before I started writing Beyond the Ivory Tower, I read about one of the original "PayPal mafia" members, Peter Thiel. A successful entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and philanthropist, Mr. Thiel is also a very vocal critic of the American "one size fits all" education system. Through his Thiel Fellowship program, he encourages bright entrepreneurial students to drop out of school to pursue their entrepreneurial dreams without the constraints imposed by a traditional university education.

When I mentioned the article to my husband, who is a professor of computer science, he scoffed. He is a big believer in education—the more, the better.

The inherent conflict between these two opposing points of view struck me as something that would make a great story. And because I write contemporary romance, that story of course had to have a happy ending.

The result? Beyond the Ivory Tower. It pits math professor Anna Lazarev against venture capitalist Ethan Talbot. They clash over Anna's sister, who drops out of school in order to participate in a program that Ethan funds. In the process, Anna and Ethan fall in love.

How does that happen and what comes of it? Read their story in Beyond the Ivory Tower and find out.